Top 3 Under The Radar MLB Free Agents Still on the Board

There have been several notable free agent signings, with the biggest names still to come in Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette and Alex Bregman. But for teams doing their shopping more in the bargain aisle of free agency, there are plenty of names still to consider who could make an impact, at a reasonable price.

Let's take a look at the Top 3 "Underrated" MLB Free Agents still on the board:

Underrated free agent 1B Nathaniel Lowe had bad 2025 after four decent years in Texas

The Gold Glove first baseman had four consecutive solid years with the Texas Rangers from 2021 through 2024. He hit his peak in 2022 with a Silver Slugger award, batting .302 with a career-best 27 homers and .851 OPS. Otherwise, the numbers weren't eye-popping, but more than passable, with somewhere around 16-18 HR and 70-80 RBIs in each of the other seasons. Overall, he was a well-above average hitter throughout that four-year run, batting .274 with a .791 OPS and nearly 20 HR per season on average.

The one blip came in 2025, when he was traded to the Washington Nationals, batting .216 with a .665 OPS. He rebounded a bit after being sent to the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline, hitting .280 with them with a .790 OPS in largely a platoon role.

The trouble for the left-handed-hitting Lowe came in his sudden inability to hit lefties, even though it had never been a problem for him before.

At age 30, still in his prime, we can surmise that maybe 2025 was an aberration. If so, he can still be a viable first baseman for some team, and at a pretty reasonable cost. And in the worst-case scenario, as Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report notes, "there's certainly a market for guys who can mash righties."

Has age caught up to Marcell Ozuna? Free agent DH could be had for cheap

The former Braves DH just might be on the downside at this point, having turned 35 this offseason. After two straight years of an OPS over .900, and averaging 39.5 HR and 102 RBIs, his home run total was cut in half this season, to just 21, and his OPS dropped by nearly 200 points.

"But was it just a temporary fall from grace while he tried to play through a hip injury suffered in mid-April?" asked Miller. "Maybe with a few months of rest and rehab, he'll get back to being one of the better sluggers in the sport in 2026."

If there's a team starving for offense, without a ton of money to spend, willing to take a bet on Ozuna recapturing that 2023-24 form, they could get themselves a huge power bat for short-term at a fraction of the cost. Do we hear the Pittsburgh Pirates rummaging around, perhaps?

Michael Kopech could be a sneaky-good late-inning bullpen arm in free agency

Miller calls Kopech "out of sight, out of mind" this offseason, after an injury-riddled 2025 that saw him pitch just 11 innings. But the LA Dodgers certainly squeezed the most out of the 29-year-old when he was available. For 24 electric innings after the trade deadline in 2024, and nine more in the playoffs that year, plus the 11 IP in '25, Kopech had a 1.84 ERA for the Dodgers, with six saves.

Kopech is no stranger to the injured list, however, so perhaps it was more of an anomaly in 2024 when he made 67 appearances and pitched a full season out of the bullpen. He had never had a fully healthy season before, or since.

But if a team wants to take a chance, they could get themselves an elite high-leverage arm for a cheap price. Miller suggests the Minnesota Twins (who traded away nearly their entire bullpen last year) would be an ideal place to start.

Honorable mention: Rhys Hoskins, 1B/OF, Zach Eflin, SP, Max Scherzer, SP.